Silence is Golden
by BookaholicIam
Summary: The team gets a new trainee and a new case in the same day. Someone in Denver is dumping bodies minus their tongues. A bit Reid-centric, though it has all team members involved.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note: **I started this for my own amusement, but it turned out to be a bigger undertaking than I had expected. Having put so much work into it, I decided to go ahead and post it. All mistakes in geography, police work, and profiling I freely acknowledge. The medical part is pretty accurate as I write that from first-hand experience. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy it!

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own Criminal Minds, I only borrow them for my own nefarious purposes.

Silence is Golden

"Hotch, could I ask you for a favor?" asked SSA Dale Southern, as he approached Aaron Hotchner's desk.

Hotch looked up and smiled. He and Dale were old friends. "What can I do for you, Dale?" he replied.

"I have a new agent. I think she's going to be very good, but I'd like for her to get some training with a good team, and your team is the best the FBI has. Could she join you for a few weeks to get an idea of what we do? My team is still recovering from that last case we worked. Agents Jacobs and Edwards are still in physical therapy, and the rest of us were given leave until they were back to work. I don't want to have to wait to train her, and ideally, I would like for her to have a good idea of what to expect before our next case. What do you say? Will you help an old friend out?" Agent Southern looked at Hotch anxiously.

"I do owe you one, and training someone new would be good for my team. What can you tell me about her?" Hotch smiled reassuringly at his friend.

"Her name is Amelia Greer. Actually it's Dr. Amelia Greer. She was a pharmacist, but decided she wanted to join the FBI. She also has a minor in computer science, so she has some technological background. She just graduated the academy, and she was interested in being a member of a BAU team so I got her assigned to my team before someone else did."

"I'm glad you found someone else, I was getting tired of you trying to get Reid away from me." joked Hotch. "Send her in tomorrow, and we'll have her see what being on a BAU team is really like."

Agent Southern looked relieved. "Thanks, Hotch. I owe you one. She'll be here tomorrow morning. I'll go call her now so she knows what's going on. I'll send you her information as soon as I get back to my office. See you later." He walked out of Hotchner's office.

Aaron Hotchner reached for his phone and called Jennifer Jareau. "Hi, JJ. I'll be sending you some information later on an agent. She's a recent academy grad, and she's assigned to SSA Southern's team, but she'll be training with us starting tomorrow. Would you meet with her in the morning and introduce her to the rest of the team? Thanks." He hung up the phone and let himself be briefly proud of his team being considered the best team in the BAU.


	2. Chapter 2

Derek Morgan, Emily Prentiss, and Spencer Reid were at their desks the following morning. Morgan and Prentiss were joking with each other, and Reid was trying to find a file that was lost on his computer.

"Where did it go? I don't want to type it again. Why can't I find it?" said Reid, to no one in particular.

"Why don't you have Garcia help you find it?" asked Prentiss.

Reid gave her an are-you-kidding-me look. "Do you know what she did the last time I let her on my computer? I still have weird pictures or odd sounds showing up on my computer. I really don't want a repeat of that."

While Reid stared at his screen, Morgan looked up, and said to Emily, "Hey, who's that with Hotch? She's not bad looking."

Emily turned around, "I don't know, I've never seen her before. Looks like they're coming this way, though."

Morgan and Prentiss looked towards where Hotch was entering the office, while Reid looked at his computer and tried to figure out where his file had gone.

Hotchner walked over to his team's desks followed by a woman who looked to be in her late 20's.

"Morgan, Prentiss, Reid, I'd like you to meet Dr. Amelia Greer. She's a recent academy graduate who's been assigned to agent Southern's team, but is going to train with us for a while." Hotchner introduced her.

"Please, call me Lia. It's nice to meet you." she said, as she smiled at them. "I'm looking forward to watching a BAU team in action."

"We're the best at what we do," said Morgan, with a smile.

Emily rolled her eyes at Morgan. "He's full of himself. He's Derek Morgan. I'm Emily Prentiss, and the guy staring at the computer screen is Dr. Spencer Reid. Nice to meet you."

Reid glared at his computer and said, "where did my report go? I know I saved it!"

A shadow fell over his shoulder, and he was aware of a subtle smell of a light perfume and a floral shampoo.

"What file were you looking for?" said a husky female voice in his ear.

"It's from the last case we completed, I saved it yesterday as "Houston 4/30," replied Reid, as he tried to look behind him without being obvious about it.

A hand reached over his shoulder, he noted the fingers were long and the nails were nicely rounded off but not long, and pressed a few buttons on his computer. A search screen came up. The hand typed some more, and pushed enter and his report came up on his screen.

"Is that what you were looking for?," asked Lia.

"Yes, it is, thank you for your help," he said as he tried not to be obvious about trying to turn around to look at her.

Hotch said, "There's a couple more members of our team for you to meet, and some paperwork to complete. If you'll follow me to my office, I'll call JJ."

"It was nice meeting you, " Lia said as she walked away after Hotch.

Reid was too late, as she was already walking away towards Hotch's office. All he saw was the back of a tall, slender female with shoulder-length light brown hair wearing slacks and a blue blouse.

He didn't realize he was staring until Morgan said, "Reid, hello? Are you done looking at her? I can ask Hotch to bring her back if you'd like to look some more."

Reid looked at Morgan feeling embarrassed, while Prentiss said, "Give him a break, I've seen you lose computer files before. He's just happy he doesn't have to ask Garcia"

Reid was grateful to Prentiss when Morgan actually looked sheepish and said, "Yeah, so maybe I've lost a couple of files before. I wish a fine woman would show up to fix my computer problems too."

Prentiss smiled smugly and replied, "And isn't Garcia willing to be there when you need her?"

Morgan chuckled and said, "Yeah, but then I have all kinds of strange things popping up on my computer for the next month. I guess I would take someone else's help too."

Reid paid little attention to their banter, he was too busy trying to look at the woman who had followed Hotch into his office. A couple of minutes later, JJ went into Hotch's office also.

He tried to work on his report while keeping an eye on Hotch's office, and was rewarded about ten minutes later when JJ left his office with Amelia Greer right behind her. She looked to be almost six feet tall, with the build of someone who was in good physical shape. She had shoulder-length light brown hair that shone with blonde highlights. He didn't get a very good look at her face as she was far away, but she looked attractive from a distance.

At that moment, Penelope Garcia appeared from her office. She looked at up at Greer, smiled and shouted, "Oh my God, Lia! What are you doing here?"

"PG! I'm working, that's what," answered Greer, as Garcia gave her a big hug.

JJ, looking surprised, said, "I take it you two know each other?"

"I met Lia when I was in the hospital after I got, you know, shot." Garcia replied.

"A resident had written for an antibiotic she was allergic to and I went to put a clarification on her chart to make sure nobody tried to give Zosyn to her, and she saw me and asked me to get her laptop out of her bag for her. We started talking computers, and found we had a lot in common." Greer continued the story.

"She told me she'd recently moved here and didn't know many people, so I introduced her to some of my other computer geek friends. We've been friends ever since then. Although now that she's kept the fact that she's going to work with me a secret, I don't know," Garcia finished and smiled as Lia Greer stuck her tongue out at her.

"Hey, I didn't know before last night I would be training here, and I tried calling you but it went to voice mail so I just decided to surprise you," Greer defended herself.

JJ raised her eyebrows and said, "Well, small world, I guess. You two can talk later, Agent Greer has some more paperwork to finish now so I don't get in trouble with Hotch."


	3. Chapter 3

Amelia Greer and JJ walked off, and Garcia made her way towards the break room, which took her past the desks of three interested parties.

"Baby girl," Morgan said, "is there something you'd like to tell us?"

"I think she'd just _love_ to tell us all about her friend-who's-now-our-co-worker Amelia Greer," Prentiss said, as she leaned back in her chair.

Garcia rolled her eyes and sighed dramatically. "I suppose I can tell you a little bit about her. But I'm busy. Busy, busy. A couple of minutes, no more," she stated quickly.

"Sure thing," Morgan gave Garcia his best smile," now, give us the 411"

"You know I can't resist it when you smile like that. She's 29, she's single, she's got a PharmD degree, and a masters in Computer Sciences. She's from Kansas, she went to KU, and she moved here four years ago. She reads all the time, listens to loud music, and thinks David Tennant is hot. She runs a lot, eats mostly healthy food, but don't let her drink too much vodka, she gets a little crazy." Garcia shot out her description in rapid fashion, and turned to walk away.

Reid and Morgan were looking at Garcia with identical bemused expressions. Emily hurriedly said, "Geez, Garcia, do you think she wants us knowing all that? Isn't some of that a bit personal?"

Garcia looked back over her shoulder and said, "It's probably only fair to tell you. She knows way more than that about all of you. Ciao!" She quickly walked away, glad they couldn't see the smile on her face.

"I don't think I want to think about that," sighed Reid. Then he got a curious look on his face. "Who's David Tennant?"

Morgan and Prentiss looked at each other and laughed.

"Why is that funny? Should I know who he is?" asked Reid, as he played with a pen on his desk.

"Here, kid. I'll google him so you can see. He was on the BBC show Dr. Who until this season. I think he decided he wanted to do other projects," Morgan said, still chuckling. "You know, Prentiss, I think our boy genius here kinda looks like the guy. Maybe he has a chance with this girl."

"Morgan!" Reid said in a low voice, looking around. It would be his luck she would be standing right behind him while Morgan made jokes about him. "That's not very funny."

Morgan looked at Reid, ready to say something else, but the look on Reid's face stopped him. 'Ah, shit, he really does find her attractive. I better leave him alone before he gets too upset.' Morgan thought to himself. He tried to quickly think of something else to say.

"If she's a friend of Garcia's, we know she won't be boring," noted Prentiss, trying to ease past the awkward moment, "if she has a doctorate, she's smart. It could be that she'll be very helpful."

Before either Morgan or Reid could answer her, David Rossi walked over to their desks and said, "meeting in the conference room" and walked off.

They exchanged glances, all joking forgotten, and stood up and followed Rossi to the conference room.


	4. Chapter 4

JJ stood by the front of the room by the screen, and after everyone had sat down she started talking. Reid glanced around the table and saw that Amelia Greer was sitting on the other side of Prentiss, who was sitting next to him. He would have to look backwards to look at her. Now was not the time to try. He turned around to pay attention to what JJ was saying.

"In Denver, over the last six months, we have another case of women being kidnapped, raped, and then murdered and dumped. So far, there have been three known murders, and here are the pictures of the dump sites."

She clicked a button and the screen showed three pictures of bodies, in dumpsters. While they were partially buried in the trash, it was obvious no real effort had been made to hide them.

"He doesn't have much fear of being caught, does he?" Prentiss noted.

"The weird part of this case is that all three women had their tongues cut out," continued JJ.

"Was it pre or post-mortem?" asked Reid.

"Pre. Obviously he doesn't want his victims talking to him. The victims are Erica Salyer, age 30, Joanne Higgins, 25, and Heather Jennings, 33. They all lived alone, and were reported missing when they didn't show up to work. In all cases, it was a month between when they were reported missing, and when their bodies were found. Their autopsies all indicated that they were malnourished, and weight and muscle loss, coupled with the degree of healing of the stump of their tongues, showed that he cut their tongues off fairly soon after he took them. They all died of blunt force trauma to the head, but he might have decided to kill them when they became too weak."

Hotch spoke up, "They were all single, and had no family in the area. All of their cars were found in the parking lots of their apartments. Two of the cars had the victim's purse in it, and the third purse was found on the ground just underneath the driver's side door. All three victims worked jobs where they returned home late at night."

Morgan spoke up, "So he's taking low risk victims, late at night, when they're tired from working and getting out of their cars. He's organized, and has a vehicle big enough to transport a body. I say we get going, the sooner we get there, the sooner we can catch him."

Hotch smiled briefly at Morgan's enthusiasm. Then he looked at their trainee. "When we take a case, we usually just leave from here. But if you need some time to get some things together, we can wait."

She gave him a ironic smile. "Dale Southern warned me that a BAU team can be called on to leave very quickly. I have a suitcase ready in my car. I just wasn't expecting it to be on my first day," she said.

"Good. JJ, you're responsible to make sure she knows where to go and what to do," Hotch spoke over his shoulder as he quickly exited the room.

"You people move fast. I'll be going to my car to get my suitcase, then." Dr. Greer stood up and left the room.

"She's got the right idea, guys. Let's get moving," said Rossi as he also left the room.

Morgan and Reid looked at each other. "Guess we'd better go before we're left behind, huh?" laughed Morgan as he got up from the table.


	5. Chapter 5

They boarded the airplane, and Greer looked around and said, "Wow, this is nice."

JJ said, "Find a seat and buckle in, we'll be taking off soon."

Lia was the last one in line, and paused a minute to look around. Dr. Reid had dropped into the first available seat. The rest of the team was walking further into the plane. Greer started to follow them, looking around at the interior of the sleek little jet. As she reached Reid's seat, she didn't see his bag sitting on the floor just in front of his feet. Her foot struck it, and she tripped, falling practically on top of Dr. Reid. He reached out to steady her, one hand landing on her right arm and the other on her left hip. She landed on one knee, and muttered, "Damn, ow!" Reid quickly said, "I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have left my bag out there. Are you all right?" The end of his sentence trailed off as he realized her face was inches from his and that he still had his hands on her. Brown eyes looked into blue eyes. Her face was red, and she looked embarrassed. "I'm the one who should be sorry, I didn't look where I was going". She moved to stand up, he dropped the hand from her hip, but kept his other hand on her elbow to help her up. "Thanks, Dr. Reid," she said, still blushing, "I hope I didn't step on anything important." "I'm sure it's fine," he answered. She smiled at him, and walked further into the plane to sit next to JJ. The plane took off smoothly, and soon they were able to move around. The rest of the team gathered together, so Lia Greer followed them.

"We've done enough of this type of case that we can wait until we get there to work more on the profile." said Hotch. " I think right now it's more important we get to know Agent Greer better. Sorry to put you on the spot, but it'll be helpful to us working as a team to know more about why you decided to be here."

She smiled wryly, and said, "I suppose that's true enough. I had actually wanted to be in the FBI when I went to college. That's why I have the computer science degree, I thought it would help me get in. But my parents thought it would be too dangerous, they talked me into applying for pharmacy school. The deal was that if I was accepted, I would go for a Pharm D. degree. If I didn't get accepted, I would add Criminal Justice to my computer degree. I got accepted to pharmacy school, and found it interesting, and didn't look back."

"So what made you go to the academy when you were a practicing pharmacist?" asked Prentiss.

"It was a combination of situations. First, I met Penny, and she told me about her work, and about working with all of you, and it reminded me of why I wanted to be in the FBI so many years ago. Then, I had enough bad days at work, and the final straw was the day I had a doctor get mad at me for keeping him from killing a patient. He had ordered an antibiotic that would have caused an anaphylactic reaction in his patient, so I called him to suggest an alternative. He said he wasn't going to have a dumbass of a pharmacist tell him how to practice medicine. I had been having a bad day, and I snapped back at him that that was doctor dumbass to him, and I would make a better medical doctor than him because I wouldn't try to kill a patient like he was. He apologized to me later, and I apologized to him, but it made me think that maybe I should go for what I had originally wanted to do. I thought my medical knowledge would be helpful. So I applied to the academy and was accepted, and now here I am." She smiled again, looking downward like she wasn't sure what kind of reaction she would get.

"I think you did the right thing. Your medical knowledge will be very helpful to a BAU team," stated Prentiss.

"You worked in a hospital? How is that different from working at a retail store?", asked Morgan.

"Well, I worked several clinical rotations. I rounded with the doctors, looking at each patient and deciding what would help them the most. I worked clinicals in pediatrics, surgery, and trauma. I also worked quite a bit of order entry, where we would get a copy of the orders off the patient's charts scanned to us by the nurse, and input the orders into the emar on a computer so the nurse would know what medication to give the patient."

"What the heck does emar mean?" asked Rossi.

"It means electronic medication administration record. It's just short-hand for the system used to keep track of what medications the patients would get and when." she answered.

"I think that covers it well enough, thank you for sharing that with us. I suggest we all use the rest of the flight to think about the case," said Hotch. "Prentiss, JJ, why don't you two give SSA Greer some idea what to expect when we get there."

Reid had finally gotten a good look at Amelia Greer. She was as attractive as he had thought at his first glance. She had regular features, a light complexion with a scattering of freckles, and she had unusually dark blue eyes. When she smiled, he found her extremely attractive. The time she had looked directly at him, and smiled, he felt like he'd been hit by an electric jolt. As he sat down in a seat next to Morgan, he shook his head slightly and thought, 'you're letting your imagination get the better of you, Spencer. She smiled at you because she's friendly. Concentrate on the case.'

Without thinking about it, he looked up to see where she'd gone, and saw her sitting with JJ and Emily. The three of them were huddled with their heads together, and all three of them started to laugh quietly.

"I wonder what they're talking about?" Morgan asked, in a low voice. "I know JJ and Emily have been dying to know about her and Garcia."


	6. Chapter 6

She said what about me?" asked Lia Greer. "She is so full of it, ask her who got up and sang karaoke and who sat and laughed at her."

JJ and Prentiss quietly laughed. Prentiss responded, "I can see Garcia doing that. She also mentioned that you know a lot about all of us. Is that true, or was she just trying to get a reaction out of us?"

"She has told me a lot about you guys. It made me feel like I already know your team. It also made me nervous because she made all of you sound so capable and wonderful, and I'm not sure I can measure up. She really loves all of you like her family." Lia told them.

She leaned back and thought about how Garcia had described her teammates, and how they seemed to her now that she had actually met them. Hotchner was as intense as Garcia had said. Garcia hadn't mentioned that he was good looking too. Probably because she only saw the gorgeousness of Derek Morgan, who was also quite friendly and charming. JJ and Emily were as great as Garcia had said, they had both gone out of their way to explain what was going on, and told her that when she had any questions, they'd both be happy to answer them. David Rossi hadn't really said much to her yet, but he'd been polite. Pretty much what she'd expected from what PG had told her. The enigma was Dr. Spencer Reid. Penny was obviously very fond of him, and thought of him almost as a brother. Still, from the way she described him, Lia had expected a super-nerd who looked like a fourteen year old, complete with glasses and a pocket protector. What she saw was a young-looking man who was attractive in a slim, quiet kind of way and was perhaps uncomfortable with interacting with other people. Maybe just extremely shy. When she'd tripped earlier, and had landed next to Dr. Reid, she had looked up to find his face close to hers, she had found it odd, as young as his face looked, his eyes had seemed much older. When she had looked around at the team and tried to smile at all of them, she'd looked at him and smiled, he had smiled back. She had felt a fluttering in her stomach. She wondered about that. He really wasn't her type. From what Penny had told her about him, he wasn't into sports, which she loved, and he probably wouldn't appreciate her musical tastes, which ran to loud rock music, from Queen and Led Zepplin, to Disturbed and Shinedown, and occasional eighties music when she wasn't in the mood for loud music. The fluttering must have only been nerves from her first day at work.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the pilot telling them it was time to buckle in so they could land.

JJ looked at her and smiled. "I hope you're ready for your first case. Just follow our lead, and you'll do fine."

Lia truly hoped so.


	7. Chapter 7

They walked into the police station. Lia Greer kept to the back of the group. She felt as nervous as she had on the first day she'd worked as a pharmacist. She felt jumpy as she noticed everyone was looking at them. The rest of the team seemed to ignore it, but she wished she was in the middle of the group so no one could see her.

JJ and Hotch led the group. A detective came over to them and said, "I'm glad you're here. This has really got us stumped. I'm detective Brad Hoskins." He was somewhere between thirty-five and forty. He had black circles under his eyes, and his clothes looked wrinkled, obviously he'd been working overtime on this case.

JJ smiled her most reassuring smile and said, "We're glad to help. I'm Jennifer Jareau, and these are agents Hotchner, Rossi, Prentiss, Morgan, Reid, and Greer. Do you have a room where we can set up?"

"Yes, right this way. The sooner you can start the better. This has really got the city freaked out," he replied, as he walked to an empty room.

They entered the room, and Hotch looked at all of them and said, "Morgan and Prentiss, go look at where the women were abducted. Rossi and Reid, go look at the dump sites, and take Greer with you. JJ and I will talk to the police force here."

Morgan and Prentiss talked to Det. Hoskins for a minute to get the addresses, and left.

Rossi looked at Reid and Greer and said, "I'll go get the addresses. I'll meet you outside."

Lia looked at Reid and raised an eyebrow. He shrugged and said, "let's go outside to the SUV." She followed him out the front door. They reached the vehicle, and Reid stopped and leaned against it. He started thinking about whether he should triangulate the dump sites or the abduction sites. It would be best to do both separately , and then also together. He had almost forgotten that Lia Greer was there when he heard her say, "Oh my stars and garters, look at that! That is beautiful! I think we're in for a storm tonight."

His first reaction was 'did she just use the Beast's favorite quote? She reads comic books?'

Then he looked up and had to agree with her. There were large thunderheads over the Rocky mountains, and it was certainly a beautiful sight. Before he could say anything back to her, Rossi walked up to them.

"Let's get going. We need to get all three sites looked at before it gets dark, "said Rossi.

They got in the SUV, Rossi driving, Reid in the passenger seat, and Greer in the seat just behind them. Rossi started talking without taking his eyes from the road. "What we'll be looking for is anything he might have left behind that will give us an idea of who he is. It could be as small as a cigarette butt, or as important as the murder weapon, if he was sloppy on the dump. Try to keep your eyes open for something that's out of place for the area we're in."

"Okay, how far out from the dump site should I concentrate on? How far do unsubs typically park from where they're dumping a body?" asked Greer.

"Good question." responded Rossi. "It will be close to the dump site, the further the vehicle from the dump site, the more likely someone will see something. An unsub who's been this successful will be smart enough to minimize the risks."

"I hate to sound wimpy, but are we going to have to go dumpster diving? Will we have to go through all the trash in the dumpster?," she asked.

"No, that's what the local police are for." answered Rossi. "We'll monitor what they find, but we won't have to do that ourselves."

"The dump sites themselves will tell us something about the unsub also," Reid added. "The more secluded the site, the more likely that he's not interested in trying to prove he's smarter than the police. Someone who's motive is to prove he can get away with it will try to make it as public as possible to show that he can. The more isolated his dump site, the more likely that he's trying to hide what he's done as completely as possible."

"This is more complicated than I had previously thought," admitted Greer.

"It's something you have to learn as you go," said Rossi, "The more you do this job, the easier it will be to analyze the unsub from the small clues that will give you insight into him."

They were just about to the first dump site, and no one said anything until they got there. They got out of the SUV. Lia looked around. The dumpster was in a secluded location. It was in an alley, with only one entrance. There were not any street lights nearby. It was in a residential neighborhood that wouldn't see a lot of traffic late at night. Rossi and Reid started inspecting the area, while Greer looked in the dumpster, and then underneath it.

"And what's the profile on a guy who dumps the body in a low-risk area, for a city, but leaves it where it would be noticed as soon as someone walked past it?" she wondered.

"It means he wants to be as safe as possible dumping a body in a city, but that he wants the body found soon afterward. It would have taken him minimal time to pop a trunk or rear door and throw the body in the dumpster, but the body would have been discovered within the next day. He's cautious, but he wants it known what he's done." Rossi answered. He looked around. "We've found all we're going to here, let's look at the other two sites."

They drove to the other sites, with little conversation during the ride. Lia was trying to apply what she'd learned at the academy to the case, while Rossi and Reid were concerned about how well the unsub had covered his tracks at the dump sites.

As they looked at the third site, Rossi shook his head. He grabbed his phone and dialed Morgan's number.

"Hey Rossi. What do you have for me?" answered Morgan.

"From what we've seen of the dump sites, he's completely in control when he dumps the bodies. If he made a mistake, it was when he kidnapped them, not when he dumped the bodies. If we find what we're looking for, it'll be on your end," said Rossi.

"Thanks, Rossi. We'll do what we can," Morgan replied, and then hung up.

"What is it?" asked Emily Prentiss.

"Rossi and Reid didn't find anything useful. Rossi thinks the unsub might have made a mistake when taking the victims, not when dumping them." answered Morgan, as he looked around the parking lot they were in. They had already looked at the first kidnapping site. The apartment complex had seemed safe enough for a single woman, but a number of the lights in the parking lot were burnt out. Where Joanne Higgins normally parked was under one of the burnt out lights. It would have been fairly easy for the unsub to overpower her. She had returned home from work at 3 AM, and she was a small woman, at 5'2" and 110 pounds.

The second site was much the same. An apartment complex with a lot of younger, single people. Erica Salyer worked at a restaurant, and normally worked until close. She wouldn't have gotten home before 2 AM. The last site followed the same pattern. Another apartment complex, and where Heather Jennings parked was fairly secluded.

"Damn, this guy is smart. None of these places are easily seen from the road, and he gets them late enough at night that nobody is awake to see it." Morgan took out his phone and hit a couple of buttons.

"Path to knowledge, your guide is speaking," said Garcia.

"Hey baby girl, got anything for us?" asked Morgan.

She sighed and replied, "I have looked and looked, and so far nothing connects these victims. They didn't know each other, they lived in different parts of town, one worked at a diner, one was a caterer, and one worked at a club. They don't even look the same. Heather Jennings had long blonde hair, Erica Salyer had short dark brown hair, and were both white. Joanne Higgins was African-American. Sorry, dear one, but nothing so far. But I will keep digging. Garcia out"

Morgan shook his head as he hung up the phone.

"She's got nothing, huh?" asked Prentiss.

"Nope." answered Morgan. He thought for a minute. "Let's go check out the victim's cars. Two of them still had their purses in the car, so maybe we'll find something useful there."

"Might as well, we're not doing any good here," Prentiss agreed.


	8. Chapter 8

Rossi, Reid, and Greer walked into the police station. Once again, everyone stopped what they were doing to look at the agents.

"How long does it take to get used to everyone staring at you like you were a rock star," Lia asked as she uneasily glanced around.

Reid chuckled. "I still haven't gotten used to it, but I've learned to ignore it." He looked at Rossi, who had walked farther ahead of them. "I think there might be some of us who like it," he said in a low voice.

Lia smiled back at him. He had a surprising dry sense of humor.

"What do you think of your first day on the job? You did get thrown into a case without the benefit of a few days to get acclimated at Quantico. I hope it's not too much too soon, Dr. Greer."

"It's been a bit hectic, but it's certainly showing me what the job will be like. Please don't call me doctor. Every time someone calls me that, I get people asking me about some medical condition. Then when I tell them I'm not a medical doctor, but a pharmacist, they start asking me about side effects from their medications. You can call me Amelia or Lia."

Reid rolled his eyes and smiled. "I understand completely about that. When I first joined the BAU, our former lead agent, Gideon, would introduce me as Dr. Reid, mostly because I looked like I was about fourteen. Then I would get the 'you've gone through medical school?' questions and would have to explain that there are other degrees out there you can get a doctorate in. Now it's just a habit for everyone to call me Dr. Reid when they introduce me to someone. At least I hope I don't look like I'm a teenager anymore." He looked at her, feeling a bit nervous. "You can call me Spencer. Sometimes JJ calls me Spence." He didn't normally ask other agents to call him by his first name, but he wanted to hear Lia call him Spencer.

"I can do that, Spencer." she replied. Agent Prentiss had asked her to call her Emily while they were talking on the plane. They all called Jennifer Jareau "JJ", so she had also. Aaron Hotchner had told her everyone called him Hotch when they'd first met that morning, and Morgan and Rossi seemed to be the kind of guys that liked going by their last names. She hadn't been sure how attached Dr. Reid was to being called doctor, though. She had known some doctors who would only let their very closest friends call them by their first name; everyone else had to call them doctor. She didn't think Dr. Reid, Spencer, that is, was that type, but you never know until they tell you themselves. She didn't want to offend any of the team on her first day on the job. She'd let that wait until the second day, she thought to herself, and had to stifle a chuckle.

They walked into the room assigned to them as Hotch and Rossi walked out, talking intently. JJ was talking on her phone, and hung up when they entered the room. She picked something up from the table and walked over and handed them to Reid. "Here's your maps of Denver," she said. "Excuse me, I've got to go talk to the police chief and get a press conference arranged for tomorrow. Morgan and Prentiss went to look over the victim's cars. They should be headed back here shortly." Then she walked out the door.

"Going to work on triangulating the kidnapping and dump sites, Spencer?" asked Lia.

"Yes. I think I'll mark them separately on two maps, and then both together on a third. That might give us a better idea of his comfort zone. It could be that either the kidnappings or the dumps could be determined by something that would take him outside his comfort zone. For instance, maybe however he's finding his victims might be based on something other than them being easily accessible. Or he may be dumping the victims outside his comfort zone to try to deflect attention from where he lives." As he takes a breath to continue, Reid realizes that he's beginning to sound like he's lecturing her. "Oh, sorry. I tend to ramble on when I get started on a subject I find interesting." Great, he thought. Now she's going to think I'm a know-it-all who likes the sound of his own voice.

"No, not at all. Actually, it's great to see what I've learned in theory put into practice." She opened her bag and took out her laptop and a notebook. "I'll work on the list Rossi wants of the neighbors of the victims." She didn't mind that he'd talked for a while, not only was what he said interesting, but she liked the sound of his voice. Lia flipped open her laptop and logged on. She started typing, and after a couple of minutes, a chat box popped up. It was Penny.

' Hey, girl, what's going on?' Garcia typed.

'I'm making lists of the victim's neighbors for when we interview them' Lia typed back.

'Who'd you go sleuthing with?'

'Rossi and Reid'

'Oh, and how was that? Double trouble, huh?'

'Get your mind out of the gutter, PG! I learned a lot about investigating a dump site.'

'So what did you think about Reid?'

'He's cute, in a geeky way. Nice guy. Gonna ask me if I thought Rossi was sexy too?'

'Penny, I love you like a sister, but you are stark raving mad.'

'How else would I survive this job? Gotta go. Have miracles to work'

Lia laughed softly to herself. Penny was a great friend; funny, supportive, and there when Lia needed someone to talk to. She often was grateful for the day that she had gone to Penny's room to look at her chart. She'd been annoyed when she'd heard a voice say, "Hey, there!! Could I ask you to do something for me?" She'd gone in the room and asked, "What do you need?" Penny had said, "My laptop! It's in that bag there. They said I shouldn't get up, but I would really like to get on my computer. Would you please hand it to me?" Lia had remarked, "I have a laptop like this." Penny had said, "Really? What do you know about computers?" That had started a conversation that had begun a friendship that had made Lia's life a lot more fun. When Lia had found out that Penny worked for the FBI, nothing could have kept her from coming back to ask her more about her job. Lia had enjoyed all the stories Penny had told her about the cases they had worked. Then when she'd gotten so irritated with her job that she was ready for a change, Penny had helped her get into the academy.

Lia's memories were interrupted by Derek Morgan and Emily Prentiss entering the room. Prentiss was carrying a small plastic bag. The rest of the team followed behind them.

"Out of all three cars," began Morgan, "there was only one thing that was obviously from the unsub. Show 'em, Prentiss."

Emily put the bag on the table. Inside it was a small syringe. Lia looked at it and asked, "May I take a look at that?"

"Sure, if you can tell us anything useful about it, be my guest," answered Hotch.

Lia picked it up and took a closer look. It was a small syringe. She turned it, and noticed what looked like part of a label that had been ripped off the syringe. There was a small bit of writing visible, and it had "Su" and below it "Exp".

"I think the unsub works at a hospital, most likely in surgery." stated Lia.

Everyone looked at her, which made Lia feel a little foolish for saying it so certainly. But she knew she was right.

"How do you come to that conclusion?" asked Rossi, in what Lia thought was a slightly mocking tone.

"By what is left of this label on this syringe. Between being a pharmacy tech, a resident, and a pharmacist, I've worked at quite a few hospitals. In the medications that they provide for each surgery, there's some that, if the anesthesiologist wants to use them, they don't want to take the time to dilute them themselves. Some hospitals pre-dilute them and have them ready in syringes. Some hospitals outsource the making of those syringes to compounding pharmacies. It's usually medications like atropine, phenylephrine, norcuron, or succsinylcholine. This label looks like those. They are usually only used in surgery, and someone who is in the surgery rooms would have access to them. It wouldn't be too difficult to take a syringe after a surgery when the room is empty, or even take one out of a sharps container. If you find who makes this syringe, we could hopefully narrow down the search to one or two hospitals," responded Lia, feeling slightly annoyed that he seemed to doubt her conclusion.

"That's good reasoning," approved Hotch. "We'll get Garcia to work tracking down all compounding pharmacies in Denver."

"That could also account for how he'd get a scalpel to cut off their tongues. The M.E. said that he thought the unsub had some medical training," said Morgan.

"We could also contact the families and friends of the victims and find out if they've had surgery recently. If they've all had surgery at the same hospital, that would be how he found his victims," added Prentiss.

Hotch looked at his watch. "That can wait until tomorrow. It's already 9:30. Let's go to the hotel and get a good night's rest. Tomorrow we'll find where the syringe came from, and talk to the victims' families about whether they've had surgery recently, and where."


	9. Chapter 9

They left the police station, and got into the SUVs. Hotch and Rossi got into the first one, Morgan and Reid got into the second one, and JJ, Prentiss, and Greer got into the third one.

Hotch asked Rossi, "How did our trainee do on her first day?"

"She did okay. She asked some good questions and didn't do anything stupid. That's about as good as you can hope for," answered Rossi, with a smile.

Hotch said, "Glad to hear it. I hope this lead with the syringe works out. If it doesn't, we're back to square one and that makes it more likely he'll find another victim before we find him."

"We'll find out tomorrow, one way or the other," Rossi responded. They spent the rest of the ride discussing who was going to go where the next day.

In the second SUV, Morgan looked at Reid and said, "How was your day with Agent Greer? You looked like you were getting along with her well when Prentiss and I showed up."

Reid sighed and tried not to give Morgan the reaction he was hoping for. "Yes, we got along fine. She's an intelligent, capable woman who is going to make a good agent. She asked intelligent questions, and when she had knowledge that would help, she didn't hesitate to say what she knew in an informative manner." Reid thought his response would be impersonal enough to get Morgan off his case.

Morgan chuckled. Reid closed his eyes and hoped Morgan wasn't going to continue needling him. "So, kid, you spent the afternoon with an attractive woman, and that's the best you could say about her? "

Reid thought to himself, 'Does he really want me to tell him I watched the way her eyes crinkled at the side when she smiled? Or that I noticed her habit of tucking her hair behind her ears, or that she really has a gorgeous…backside when she bent over to look at something by a dumpster? I don't think I want to tell him that'

"Yes, she is attractive. But I think the most important issue is that I think she'll make a good agent. Really, Morgan, you let physical attributes distract you too much." Reid returned, and hoped it would make Morgan leave him alone.

"Okay, kid, I'll agree that she's smart. But you're not letting yourself appreciate the whole picture if that's all you notice." Morgan responded.

Reid desperately tried to change the subject. "Did you and Prentiss hear anything from the neighbors that might suggest why he choose those victims?"

Morgan knew what Reid was doing, but he decided he would stop teasing him. "Besides that they all lived alone and worked late, they didn't seem to have a lot in common."

They talked about the victims the rest of the ride.

In the third vehicle, Prentiss looked back at Lia and said, "So, how would you say your first day on a case went?"

"It really was great! I learned so much. I might have learned the theory at the academy, but seeing it in action is completely different. Agents Rossi and Reid were very patient in answering my questions," she responded. She kept to herself that she found Spencer Reid interesting in more than a professional manner.

"You're information about the syringe might be what breaks the case for us. I'm glad we had you along for this," said JJ.

"I was hoping my medical knowledge would be helpful," replied Lia.

She asked them, "what should I expect tomorrow?" They spent the rest of the ride talking about the next day.


	10. Chapter 10

They reached the hotel. As they walked in the front door, thunder rumbled off in the distance. It was, as the BAU was used to, a nicer hotel, and they each had a room to themselves. They walked to their rooms, Lia's was on the end, then Reid's with Morgan across from him , then Prentiss, with JJ's across from her, and Hotch and Rossi across from each other.

They all went into their rooms. Lia put her suitcase on her bed, and opened it and pulled out a pair of shorts, a t-shirt, and a sports bra, her typical pajamas. She changed her clothes as she looked around the room. She noticed a sliding glass door at the back of the room. As she walked over to it, lightning flashed, followed soon after by more thunder. Lia smiled; she loved a good thunderstorm. She opened the door and stepped out on the small balcony. The wind was picking up, and the air smelled of rain. She leaned onto the rail, and watched the lightning flash over the mountains. It started to sprinkle, and she thought about going in. On a whim, she decided to stand there a while and enjoy the storm.

Reid set his suitcase on the floor and yawned. Tomorrow was going to be busy, between visiting the victim's neighbors and trying to find where the syringe came from. If they were lucky, they might have a suspect identified soon. He saw a flash of light and heard thunder rumble. There was a sliding glass door at the back of his room, and the blinds were open. He walked over to it to close the blinds and looked out the door. The lightning flashed again, and he saw someone standing on the balcony next to his. Lia was leaning against the rail of the balcony, even though it had begun to rain. 'Crazy woman' Reid thought as he opened the door.

"Lia, what are you doing out there? There's up to 200 deaths a year due to lightning strikes. And it's raining," Reid shouted over the rumble of thunder.

"Hey, Spence. I'm just enjoying this lovely thunderstorm. I'll go in soon," she leaned back her head and shook her wet hair back, "Lightning can travel at speeds of 130,000 mph and can reach temperatures approaching 54,000 degrees Fahrenheit." She looked sideways at Spencer and saw him duck back into his room briefly when a particularly bright flash of lightning occurred. "The fear of lightning is called astraphobia."

Spencer looked at her in surprise. Usually he was the one to spout out facts and information. She saw his look and said, "I thought about becoming a meteorologist when I was a teenager. Weather in Tornado Alley is fairly exciting."

He shook his head, and kept looking at her. She was completely soaked by now, and her shirt and shorts were plastered to her body. 'Damn, she is hot!' he thought. She had long, lean legs, the nice butt he'd noticed earlier that day, a flat stomach, and a definitely not-flat chest. He did not notice that his hair and shirt were thoroughly soaked as well.

Lia took one last deep breath of fresh, rain-scented air, and sighed. "I suppose I'd better go in now. I'm starting to get cold. You'd better go in too, your shirt is soaked! Good night, Spencer." She turned around and walked back into her room.

Reid stood there for a minute before what she had said fully registered. "Oh, crap, I _am _wet," he muttered and pulled his head back into his room. He locked the door and shut the blinds, and then took off his shirt and went to the bathroom for a towel. He knew he'd better get to bed soon, Hotch would expect them to be up and ready to go early tomorrow morning.

Lia went back into her room, and practically ran to the bathroom. She peeled off her wet clothes and stepped in the shower. She laughed to herself as she thought about the look on Spencer's face when he saw her out on her balcony. 'He probably thinks I'm totally nuts now,' she thought to herself. She considered getting her computer out to make more notes for tomorrow, but decided against it. She wanted to get to bed soon, she was hoping to get into the hotel's exercise room before they left in the morning. It had only been since she'd moved to D.C. that she had been in such good shape, having always been slightly overweight before. She'd never lived somewhere before where she didn't know anyone at all. She was a bit shy, so it had taken her a while to get to know people to be friends with. She'd started exercising a lot, mostly running, to keep busy. She'd eventually gotten to know some people, especially after she'd met Penny, but she kept up with the running. She finished her shower and got a fresh set of clothes on, set her alarm, and went to bed.


	11. Chapter 11

At 7:00 the next morning, they all gathered in the lobby to go back to the police station. Hotch was standing, looking out the window, while JJ, Prentiss, and Morgan sat on a couch talking on JJ's cell phone to Garcia. Rossi was standing near them drinking a cup of coffee, talking to Greer who also had a cup of coffee in her hand. Reid walked in with a large travel mug of coffee in his hand, looking somewhat preoccupied. Hotch looked up, and said, "Let's get going. We have a lot of ground to cover today." They separated into the SUVs in the same groups they had been in last night.

Morgan took a look at Reid and said, "Kid, did you have trouble sleeping? Your black circles under your eyes are bigger than usual."

"I had trouble sleeping last night," Reid admitted.

"You having those nightmares again?" asked Morgan.

"Ummm, yeah it was dreams," hedged Reid. He wasn't going to tell Morgan about last night, and the dreams he had afterward where he jumped over to Lia's balcony instead of going back into his room.

Fortunately for him, Morgan accepted what he said and didn't ask any other questions.

They arrived at the police station, and immediately sat down and initiated a conference call with Garcia.

"So I took your syringe, and a list of all the compounding pharmacies in Denver. There are quite a few of them. But only one uses that particular font on their labels. They supply to St. Joseph and Denver Health. I'm sure you will find out with your conversations with the victim's friends which hospital they went to," she said.

"What, baby doll, you can't tell us?" asked Morgan.

"HIPAA protects patient information. I _could _hack it for you, but it would have more force if you found out by interviewing the victim's friends and neighbors. In other words, if I found it, it wouldn't be admissible in court. Better get on the road, handsome," Garcia responded.

Hotch smiled as Morgan theatrically sighed. "You've got your assignments. Let's get this case resolved," he said and stood up to add emphasis to his words.

He had decided to send Greer with Rossi and Reid again. As they got in the SUV, Reid tried not to let last night distract him. Rossi said, "We have the neighbors of Heather Jennings." He looked back at Lia. "Have you done any interviews before?" he asked.

"No," she said. "But I look forward to watching two skilled and experienced agents such as yourselves conduct this interview." She smiled brightly at him.

"You took bullshitting 101 at the academy, didn't you?" Rossi asked.

Lia laughed. "No, actually I took it years ago in pharmacy school, the same semester I took mind reading 101."

He smiled and noted, "You're in a chipper mood this morning."

"I'm one of those annoying morning people. Besides, that thunderstorm last night put me in a good mood," she replied. She noticed out the corner of her eye that Reid turned and looked at her when she said that.

Out of a pure whim, she looked back at him and winked. She was surprised when he turned red, and looked away from her. 'Maybe I embarrassed him somehow? I hope not.' she thought.

"Here it is," said Rossi, as he pulled into a driveway. It was a typical apartment complex, with two story buildings, and 8 apartments per building; the type college kids, or people who didn't want to spend much lived in. Decent, but no frills. They went to the front office, and got out of the SUV.

Rossi said, "We asked that her closest neighbors, and anyone who considered themselves her friend, be here. Quicker than us knocking on everyone's door."

"Easier on the knuckles, too," said Reid. Lia looked at him sharply; he was evidently over whatever had been bothering him earlier.

They entered the building, and walked to a room that had a group of people either sitting in chairs, or standing in groups, talking to each other. Rossi entered the room first, followed by Reid, and lastly by Greer.

"We're Agents Rossi, Reid, and Greer, and we've come to ask you a few questions about Heather Jennings," said Rossi, gathering the attention of the occupants as soon as he walked in the door.

"Had Heather had any surgeries within the past year or two?" asked Reid.

The crowd of about ten people looked briefly confused. One woman tentatively raised her hand and said, "She had her appendix out a little over a year ago."

"Good. Do you happen to remember which hospital the procedure was done in?" he then asked.

"It was," she thought for a minute. She nudged the man sitting next to her. "Wasn't it St. Joseph's?"

"Yeah, you oughta remember. We had to drive her there because she was in such pain she didn't want to drive herself," he answered.

Okay. That's good information," approved Rossi. "Have any of you seen any type of unusual activity around here before her disappearance? Any cars you didn't recognize sitting around with someone in the driver's seat? Someone walking past day after day, who you hadn't seen before and didn't see afterwards?"

An older woman spoke up. "There was a white Ford Taurus that was in the parking lot late at night. I don't know if anyone was in it, because it was always parked away from the lights. It was soon after Joe had moved in, so I thought it was his car. I didn't see it again after Heather disappeared."

A couple of other residents verified that they had also seen a white Taurus, sitting in a dark area of the parking lot, a couple of weeks before Heather disappeared, and that they didn't see it afterwards.

Reid's phone rang. He stepped out of the room and answered it, "Reid."

"Hey there, smart boy, how's it going?" asked Garcia.

"We found out that she went to St. Joseph's and that there was a white Ford Taurus spotted in the parking lot a couple of weeks before she disappeared," he answered.

"Wow! What a coincidence! The other two victims also went to St. Joseph's and there was a white Taurus hanging around before they disappeared." Garcia said.

"I guess that answers the question of which hospital our unsub works at. And that white Taurus must be his vehicle," he noted.

"Reid, are you around Rossi and Lia?" Garcia asked quietly.

"No," he answered, curious about what Garcia wanted.

"How's Lia doing?"

"She's doing well. She's mostly watched us and asked questions, but she'll speak up if she thinks she knows something."

"Good. I was worried about her. She's smart, and she's a great person, but I don't know if she's, ya know, tough enough to make a good BAU agent. Just watch out for her if things get crazy, okay?"

"I'll try, Garcia. She might surprise you, though."

"What's that, Reid? Are you defending her? Ohhh, do you like her?"

"I think she's a nice person."

"That's it? She's nice? What do you know about her?"

"I know she likes thunderstorms," Reid said without thinking.

"Really? Does this have something to do with her standing on her balcony in a storm?"

"What? Maybe."

"No, I'm not psychic. She chatted with me online and said you probably think she's nuts for standing outside in a thunderstorm."

"No, she just startled me. Standing outside soaking wet in a lightning storm isn't the safest thing to do."

"Soaking wet, huh? I bet you enjoyed that."

What?" Reid shook his head, "Garcia, I gotta go. They're walking towards me now. Bye."

He hung up his phone, glad to end that conversation. Garcia loved getting a reaction out of him, and he didn't want to give her the reaction she was looking for.

Rossi and Greer walked over to him.

"That was Garcia. She said the other two victims went to St. Joseph's hospital and there was a white Taurus that was seen around their apartment complexes a couple of weeks before they disappeared," Reid told them.

"Let's get back to the police station, and see where we should go from here," suggested Rossi.


	12. Chapter 12

They walked into the police station, and joined the rest of the team.

"We're fairly certain that the unsub works at St. Joseph's." said Hotch. "Garcia has some information for us."

They all looked at the laptop that had Garcia's web cam on it.

"So I was searching news articles that cross-referenced St. Joseph's. And I find this article on a scrub tech, named Larry Winters, whose wife Lois disappeared four years ago. She was never found. I don't know about you guys, but I think that sounds somewhat suspicious. And, according to the hospital records, he was put on unpaid suspension for two weeks about a month before she disappeared."

"Thanks, Garcia," said Hotch. "We'll follow up on it."

He looked around the table. "Greer," he said.

"Yes, sir," she replied.

"You have experience with hospital surgeries and personnel," he stated.

"I do," she replied.

You, and Morgan and Reid, will go to St. Joseph's and ask about Larry Winters. Prentiss and Rossi will go to his house. I'll stay here with JJ to co-ordinate," he stated.

"Yes, sir," she responded.

Morgan, Reid, and Greer were on their way to St. Joseph's.

"What can you tell us that might help?" Morgan asked.

"Well, scrub techs help set up the room, assist with the surgeries, and clean up afterwards," Lia said.

"So if he's at work, he's most likely in the surgery area right now?"

"Yes. It was probably very easy for him to steal equipment and drugs. They'll keep very close track of the narcotics, but non-controlled medications aren't watched as closely."

They arrived at the hospital. They entered the front, and there was a woman wearing a hospital badge waiting for them.

She walked towards them, and asked, "You're the FBI agents?"

"Yes, I'm SSA Morgan, and this is Dr. Reid and Dr. Greer," replied Morgan.

"Doctors? Really?" she sounded confused.

"I'm a pharmacist," responded Lia.

"I'm not a medical doctor either," added Reid.

"Okay, then," the woman shrugged, "I'm Betsy Summers, the CNO at St. Joseph's. I still can't believe you think one of our employees is a serial killer."

"It's not an easy thing to think about, that you might be working with a serial killer. Is Larry Winters working in surgery today?" asked Morgan.

"Yes, he's scheduled there. I'll take you right there so you can take him for questioning, or whatever it is you do," she walked off quickly, and they followed behind.

They entered an elevator, and went to the fourth floor. The doors opened, and to their left was a set of double doors with "Surgery - no admittance" posted in red above them. The doors automatically opened as they approached, and Betsy Summers entered quickly. She walked to a desk across from a set of screens that had the list of the day's surgeries on them.

"Marsha?" she asked to get the attention of the woman behind the desk. "These are the FBI agents. Is Larry Winters available to come up here?"

"Larry?" Marsha sounded surprised. "He just went past here like he was in a big hurry. He said he had to get something out of his car."Morgan and Reid looked at each other. "Did someone tell him there were FBI agents here?" demanded Morgan.

"Well, we called up here to let them know you were coming." responded Summers weakly.

"Everyone would have known about that two minutes after you called," said Lia.

"Where do your employees park? We might still be able to catch him," snapped Morgan.

The desk clerk said, "Go down that elevator, or the stairs right next to it, and go to your right. You'll come out the employee entrance, and the parking garage is just beyond that."Morgan was gone almost before she stopped talking, with Reid and Greer right behind him. They ran down the stairs, and down the hall, nearly running down a pair of people talking in the hall. They burst out the door, and ran towards the parking garage. There were two openings where cars could exit. Morgan ran towards one and shouted, "Reid, go check that exit!"

Reid started that direction, and was startled as Lia ran past him. "Lia, watch out!" he yelled, hoping she wasn't going to do something dangerous.

As she neared the exit, a white Taurus came barreling out of the garage. Lia was already in the street, and she stopped, trying to turn around.

"Shit!" yelled Reid, as he ran as fast as he could. The car was headed right towards her, and the driver sped up. Reid reached the edge of the street, and desperately grabbed for Lia's arm. His hand closed around her forearm, and he yanked her back just as the car sped past. He pulled hard enough that she fell into him, and they both fell on the ground.

Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Morgan running past, gun drawn, after the car speeding away.

"Lia!" he reached over and pulled her around to look at her. "Are you okay?"

Her eyes were huge, and she started shaking, "I felt the bumper touch my leg. Holy shit, that maniac almost killed me!" She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Then she looked up at Reid. He looked concerned, one hand stretched slightly out towards her. Without considering what she was doing, she reached over and put her hand on his face.

"You saved my life, Spencer," then she leaned in and kissed him. "Thank you."

He was too surprised by the kiss to say anything for a minute. Then he said, his voice wavering slightly, "You're welcome."

Lia stood up and looked down the street. Reid looked also, and they both saw Morgan standing in the middle of the road, his phone up to his ear, facing the direction the speeding car had gone. Lia offered Reid her hand, and said, "I'm sorry I fell on you. You're not hurt, I hope?" He took her hand, and stood up. "No, I'm fine. You said the bumper touched your leg. Are you injured?" he inquired. She smiled shakily at him. "Not injured, just scared senseless. That's twice now that you've caught me."

Morgan walked up to them. "You okay, Greer? You nearly became a hood ornament.""I'm okay," she responded, "Thanks to Spencer. He pulled me out of the way. I need to learn to look both ways before crossing the street.""Good. I've got the local police on the lookout for his car. Let's get back to the station, and see if we can figure out where he'll run to," Morgan started walking towards where they'd parked the SUV. Reid and Lia followed.


	13. Chapter 13

Emily Prentiss looked around the small house. She shook her head. It was an obvious bachelor pad, and a dirty one at that. There were dirty dishes in the sink, and on the counter. She looked up as Rossi entered the kitchen. "This place is disgusting," she said with a look of distaste.

Rossi looked around, and agreed, "He might think about cleaning at least once a year. It looks like he is our guy. He found out the FBI was at the hospital to talk to him and he ran. Morgan says he nearly ran over Greer. That sounds like guilt to me."

"Guilt over something." Prentiss put on a pair of disposable gloves, and started looking around. The living room didn't contain anything worthwhile. The bedroom, however, revealed something interesting. In the top drawer of the dresser, under some dinghy underwear, were a number of syringes, and five scalpels.

"I think I found the jackpot," she said in a sing-songy voice.

"I found something that might just top your jackpot," replied Rossi. He walked into the room holding a plastic bag. A plastic bag that contained four frozen tongues.

At the police station, Hotch and JJ talked to Garcia about Larry Winters. "I've been finding everything possible about this guy, and boy, does he have an interesting past. He was in medical school, and he was expelled, before he could finish flunking out, because he….ewww. It says he killed a guy's cat and sent the dismembered body to the guy. In ten separate plastic bags. Gross! It seems he has had practice cutting things he shouldn't. He then went to school to become a scrub tech, and has been working at St. Joseph's for the past twelve years. His wife, Lois, went missing four years ago. He claimed she left him due to his drinking problem, but no one has heard from her since. Sounds like a classic serial killer profile to me, chief."

Hotchner's phone rang. He stepped a couple steps away, and listened for a minute, and said, "Thanks," and hung up the phone.

"She didn't leave him. Her body was just found buried under the shed in the back yard. Without her tongue, and there was a cellar arranged to hold someone for a long period of time."

"I'm thinking he had a problem with something she said to him," JJ said.

"Now we just have to figure out where he's ran to," Hotchner stated, and dialed his phone. "Rossi, we need to know where he might have gone. Great. Thanks." He hung up the phone.

Rossi hung up his phone and looked at Prentiss. "I don't like that look, Rossi," she sighed.

"You shouldn't." he replied. "It's up to us to find out where our unsub has run to now that his home and work are compromised." They both stopped talking, and started to search as thoroughly as possible.

After about half and hour, Rossi was reading from a notebook he'd found in a desk in the living room. "Hold on. I think I may have something." he muttered. He flipped some pages, and took out his phone and dialed Hotch's number. "He has a cabin north-west of Denver. Yeah, I think I can get you the exact location." He flipped a page, and read off a series of co-ordinates to Hotch.

"Thanks, Dave." Hotch flipped his phone closed. He walked over to a table that had a map on it, and found the approximate location of the cabin. He opened his phone again. "Morgan, you're closest. This is where he's likely gone." He gave him the location, and closed his phone. He walked to the sheriff's office and said, "We should hopefully have him soon. We need to get to this location."


	14. Chapter 14

"Yeah, Hotch, we're on it," Morgan flipped his phone closed. He looked at Reid and Greer. "We're the closest to where they think our unsub has run to. Greer, you need to follow our lead."

She looked at him seriously, "Yes, I understand."

They got in the SUV. Morgan drove, and gave instructions to Lia Greer. "It should take us about fifteen minutes to get there." He talked without taking his eyes from the road. "When we get there, Reid and I'll take the lead. I need you to not risk yourself, Greer. Stay behind us and cover our backs. Can you do that?"

She took a deep breath. "I will follow your lead, and not risk myself. I will do whatever I need to do to apprehend the unsub," she said.

"Good." The rest of the ride was in silence.

They reached the cabin. The white Taurus was sitting in front of the cabin, but there was no sign of life. Morgan stopped and parked the SUV in a way that would protect them from gunfire from the cabin. He stepped out, and motioned Reid and Greer to exit that side also. When they were out, he said, "We're going to move in quick. The faster we get from here to the cabin, the less chance he has to shoot at us. I'll go towards the front of the cabin, Greer follow me. Reid, you go around the back of the cabin. Enter as fast as you can, and let's take this unsub out."

Morgan looked at Reid and nodded, Reid glanced towards Lia and looked back at Morgan. He nodded back. Reid sighed and brushed his hair back, he would have to trust that Morgan would look out for her. Reid moved to the back of the SUV, and drew his gun. He looked backwards at Morgan and saw his gun was drawn and he was crouched by the front of the vehicle. Lia was right behind him, her gun also in her hand, and a determined look on her face.

"Now!" barked Morgan, and they all sprinted towards the cabin. They reached it, and the cabin was still silent. Lia crouched behind Morgan, and clutched her gun. She really wasn't very comfortable with it, but had learned how to shoot it acceptably. She found herself worried about Spencer, but tried to concentrate on Morgan. He inched forward, and lightly grasped the door knob. He looked behind him at her, and she read his look to say, 'follow me.' He slowly turned the doorknob and opened the door. He paused a second, then entered the door still in a crouch. She followed, staying low, and trying to keep all her senses open. The inside of the cabin was quiet. Morgan moved quickly and quietly, checking all possible hiding places with a skill that left her amazed. She kept close behind him, checking in the opposite direction he was looking. She looked to the back of the cabin, and saw Reid checking that end of the cabin with the same technique as Morgan. There was a closed door, and Morgan crept towards it. He looked back at her, and motioned her back. She did as he asked, this was something that was new and frightening to her. She knew the theory, but the reality was scarier than anything she had encountered before. Reid moved ahead of her; he looked at her briefly, she tried to look back as confidently as possible. She didn't want him to know she was as scared as she'd ever been. Morgan reached the door, he visibly gathered himself, and opened the door slowly. He looked inside and then stood up. Lia was confused. Why wasn't he worried? Then she saw. The silhouette of a body hanging, a rope creaked in the silence. She also stood up, knowing all danger was past. Morgan flipped open his phone and spoke, "Hotch, it's over. He's dead."


	15. Chapter 15

It was late afternoon by the time everyone returned to the police station. Further investigation of Larry Winter's house had revealed a cellar that had been turned into a prison/torture room, with enough DNA from all the victims to prove that he was the kidnapper of all three women. Also found in the back yard, under the floor of the shed, was the body of his late wife, Lois, predictably minus her tongue. "When we interviewed his friends and co-workers, we heard from all of them how he constantly complained about his wife nagging him. And that someday he was going to shut her wagging tongue up. She disappeared soon after he was put on an unpaid suspension from work for threatening a co-worker," recalled Detective Hoskins. After Det. Hoskins had finished some paperwork, and had thanked them multiple times, everyone was ready for something to eat. They went to a local Mexican diner that he recommended as the best Mexican food in the city. They ordered their food, and ate chips and salsa while they waited.

"I could eat chips and salsa all day," said Lia with a big grin. "Fresh chips are the best."

"These are great," agreed Prentiss.

They had a great dinner, with Lia telling stories from working in hospitals, and the rest of the team telling her stories of some of their cases.

They went back to the hotel and to their rooms. Reid gathered his things together when someone knocked on his door. It was Hotch. "We're staying here tonight, there's more thunderstorms in the area. They should be cleared off mid-morning tomorrow, we'll leave then."

Reid closed his door and took off his shoes. He picked up his satchel and dug through it for a book he'd brought with him. He sat in a chair next to the balcony door and started reading. He'd been reading a while when someone knocked on his door. Startled, he got up and answered it. It was Morgan, who said, "Come with me. There's something you gotta see." Curious, Reid asked, "What do I need to see?" Morgan shook his head and replied, "You just need to see for yourself." Reid shrugged, and followed Morgan down the hall. They didn't stop at his room like Reid had expected, but kept going to the elevator. "Morgan, I'm not wearing any shoes," mentions Reid, looking at his mismatched socks. "Don't worry, you won't need them," answers Morgan. The elevator stopped on the first floor and Reid continued to follow Morgan. They walked down a hall past a sign that pointed the direction they were walking and said "Pool". "Morgan, where exactly are we going?" Reid starts, then hears splashing and familiar voices. They rounded a corner and saw the hotel pool, with JJ, Prentiss, and Greer all swimming. Morgan laughed when JJ snuck up behind Emily, and dunked her and then swam away. JJ surfaced and saw Morgan and Reid and yelled, "Hey, guys! What are you waiting for? Get in the pool!"

"What do you think, Reid? Should we grab a couple suits and join them?" asked Morgan, looking at Reid watching Lia dive off the diving board.

"I'd love to, but I didn't bring any swim trunks with me," replied Reid, thinking it would get him off the hook.

Morgan put his arm around Reid's shoulder and smiled, "Just your luck, I have a couple of 'em with me. You can borrow a pair."Reid, surprised, looked at Morgan, "Why would you have more than one pair of swim trunks with you?"

Morgan grinned, "Swimming is great exercise, that's why. Come on, let's go change."

Reid sighed, knowing he was caught. Great, he thought, I'll look really impressive next to Morgan. "All right. Let's go."

They returned a few minutes later, Morgan in the lead, looking very muscular, and Reid following behind, feeling that he looked like a fourteen year old compared to Morgan. They entered the pool area, and Morgan dropped his towel and made a graceful dive into the pool. He surfaced and looked back at Reid, "Come on, kid! Or can't you swim?"

"Of course I can swim." Reid retorted, "It's required to graduate from the academy." He looked at the pool. JJ and Prentiss were swimming over to where Morgan had entered the pool. Lia Greer had gotten out of the pool to go off the diving board. Reid tried to watch her without being obvious about it, she had on a one piece blue suit and he thought she looked very good in it.

"Reid! Get in here before I get out and toss you in!" yelled Morgan. Reid walked over to the edge and slid in the water. It was a little cold at first, but soon felt warmer. No sooner had he gotten in than Morgan came over to him and grabbed him around the shoulders. "Now, kid, I just gotta do….this!" Morgan swept Reid's feet out from under him, and dunked him. Reid came up sputtering, and glared at Morgan, who was laughing with JJ and Prentiss. Lia Greer yelled from near the diving board, "Get him back, Reid!" He swept his hair off his face with one hand, and dove under water. He saw Morgan's legs moving away, and reached out and grabbed his legs, and yanked. Reid smiled as he successfully dunked Morgan back. He surfaced to hear JJ, Greer, and Prentiss cheering him on. Morgan appeared behind them and said, "You're on his side?" and grabbed JJ's leg in one hand and Prentiss' in the other, and pulled them under. Lia sat in safety on the diving board, and laughed as Prentiss and JJ stalked Morgan, who was hiding behind Reid. Her first case as a member of a BAU team was solved, and she felt pretty good about it. She cheered as JJ grabbed Morgan's arm and unbalanced him, and Prentiss dunked him. Would the next case go so well? Lia shook her head, and decided not to worry about it tonight. The next case would come soon enough.


End file.
